1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention relates generally to enhancing the provisioning and functionality of wireless and/or portable devices, and more particularly is related to systems and methods of provisioning a wireless and/or portable device through the Internet or private network.
2. Background Information
Cellular telephones have proliferated in capabilities and features. Though most of the features are accessible through the cellular telephone's user interface, the complexity of features and reduction in size of cellular telephones makes it cumbersome for many users to program these features. Some cellular telephone manufacturers, as well as third party vendors provide docking equipment which enables a user to interface his cellular telephone to a computer in order to program these features. However, many of those users who have the most difficulty in programming their cellular telephone features are those users who are less likely to own a computer or more likely to lack the working knowledge necessary to operate many computer applications.
For example, a senior citizen may possess a cellular telephone for emergency use, to communicate with family members, or to defray the cost of long distance calls. A senior citizen may only desire to program the cellular telephone with a minimal number of telephone numbers, but the complexity required to program the cellular telephone and the decreasing size of the telephone can make it difficult for the user to program these numbers.
Cellular telephone users face another problem when replacing their telephone, which can be necessitated due to breakdown or loss. In such instances, the user programmable settings may be lost. While in some cases, a user may have a computer interface that can download these settings to, e.g., a replacement telephone, a large number of users have no mechanism for backing up user programmable settings. Even in the case where the user does have a computer interface, many users do not have the discipline to regularly back up these settings.
Further, most computer interfaces and software directed to programming settings for cellular telephones are limited to the extent of what can be programmed. Many solutions aimed at easing a cellular telephone's configuration allow the programming of only a subset of the features the cellular telephone is designed to be configured. Many other functions, including the provisioning of the cellular telephone, are not available to the user or are restricted to the cellular carriers and their designees.